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Liz Truss apologises for 'inadvertent' breaches of ban on Saudi arms sales

Liz Truss says two licences for military exports to the Middle Eastern country were issued - despite a suspension being in force.

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss in Downing Street in London
Image: Ms Truss said her department was working to revoke the licences as a 'matter of urgency'
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A minister has apologised for two "inadvertent" breaches of a ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

In June, the government announced a suspension of the issuing of new licences for military exports to the Middle Eastern country which could be used in the conflict in Yemen.

The move came in the wake of a court ruling that found the government had failed to assess whether the Saudi-led coalition operating in neighbouring Yemen had violated international humanitarian law.

 A guard sits on the rubble of the house of Brigadier Fouad al-Emad, an army commander loyal to the Houthis, after air strikes destroyed it in Sanaa, Yemen June 15, 2015. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah/File Photo
Image: The war in Yemen has devastated the country

Liz Truss, the international trade secretary, said a routine analysis of licensing statistics discovered that, just days after the ruling, a licence for an air cooler worth £200 for a Renault Sherpa Light Scout vehicle to be used by the Royal Saudi Land Forces (RSLF) was issued.

Because the item has been shipped, the licence is considered by the government to now be spent.

Another review found that another licence, for the export of 260 items of radio spares for the RSLF Signals Corps valued at £435,450, had been issued in July.

To date, 180 items worth a total of £261,450 have been shipped.

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Ms Truss, who succeeded Liam Fox in her role at the end of July, said the Department for International Trade was working to revoke the July licence as a "matter of urgency".

"I have apologised to the court unreservedly for the error in granting these two licences," she said in a letter to the Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls.

Ms Truss said an internal investigation was under way, which would seek to establish whether any other licences had been issued in breach of assurances to the court or to parliament, and to make sure there were no more breaches in the future.

Labour's Barry Gardiner said it was "staggering that the trade secretary thinks an apology will get her off the hook".

Barry Gardiner MP
Image: Barry Gardiner said Liz Truss should resign 'if she cannot control her department'

The shadow international trade secretary said: "Liz Truss must provide a full account of why her department failed so miserably.

"If she cannot control her department, obey the law and do what is morally right, she should resign."

Andrew Smith, of Campaign Against Arms Trade, which brought the original court case, said: "We are always being told how rigorous and robust UK arms export controls supposedly are but this shows that nothing could be further from the truth.

"The reality is that, no matter how appalling the crisis in Yemen has become, the government has always been far more concerned with arms company profits than it has with the rights and lives of Yemeni people."